Personal Strivings, Daily Life Events, and Psychological and Physical Well-Being

Interactional models of life events and personality posit domains of vulnerability within which individuals are most likely to be affected by negative life events. A variation of this model was tested in a study of the separate as well as interactive effects of daily life events and personal strivings on psychological and physical well-being. Subjects listed 15 of their personal strivings,which were later categorized as reflecting either achievement, affiliation, intimacy, or power. For 21 consecutive days, subjects recorded up to eight events that most influenced their moods each day, and completed mood and physical symptom checklists. Power strivings were negatively correlated with well-being. Affiliation strivings were correlated with positive affect. No significant between-subject interactions occurred between strivings and events. However, within-subject analyses revealed several significant effects. Achievement-oriented individuals tended to be affected by good achievement events; similarly, the moods of affiliation- and intimacy-oriented individuals were affected by interpersonal events. Results are interpreted within a transactional framework, and implications for research on personality, life events, and well-being are discussed.     

Self-focused attention and depression: Self-evaluation,affect, and life stress

Recent theory and research (Smith & Greenberg, 1981; Ingram & Smith, 1984) suggest an association between self-focused attention and depression. In an attempt to clarify the nature of this relationship, two studies were undertaken. Study I demonstrated that self-focused attention (i.e., private self-consciousness) was correlated with depression but was unrelated to test anxiety. Thus, self-focused attention was a correlate of depression but not emotional difficulty in general. Further, both depression and private self-consciousness were independently associated with a negative evaluation of the self. Self-focused attention was also found to be correlated with negative mood in individuals experiencing at least some symptoms of depression but not in nondepressed persons. Study II demonstrated that self-focused attention and stressful life events were independently associated with depression. Self-focused attention did not, however, moderate the relationship between stress and depression.     

Selective bias in retrospective self-reports of negative mood states

Retrospective self-report questionnaires of negative mood states experienced in the past (e.g., the most recent two weeks) tend to be exaggerated in a negative direction relative to the average ratings given to the moods contemporaneously. The present study used three measures that decomposed mood states into their constituent elements to examine whether certain components selectively contributed to this negative bias or all components contributed to this bias equally. Fifty-three participants responded to the questionnaires via the Internet every evening for two weeks. On the final day, participants recalled and retrospectively evaluated their mood state over the previous two weeks as a whole. The results revealed that memory bias occurred selectively for negative mood states. Anxiety, depression, and helplessness were exaggerated in the global compared with the daily ratings. None of the positive mood components showed any bias in the retrospective global ratings. A regression analysis indicated that the difference in daily and global ratings for negative mood was partly explained by peak and final scores. Higher peak scores led to greater overestimation whereas final scores had smaller effects; the higher the final score was, the less participants overestimated their negative mood in the global ratings.     

Mood-related self-schemata and mood-congruity effects in autobiographical memory: A study of women with premenstrual syndrome

Everyday autobiographical memory and mood interactions were explored in a small clinical sample of women with premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and a matched control group. Subjects kept daily records of memorable events for two consecutive menstrual cycles. Two recognition memory tests were given after a one-cycle delay. Mood, or affect, was self-assessed retrospectively over a week, at the end of each day during data collection and at testing, and when events occurred. Women with PMS were more depressed and more negative (angry) than positive (experiencing bursts of energy) in their daily moods than controls. Memory accuracy was poorer overall for PMS than control subjects, although no direct effects of menstrual cycle phase on memory were found. Instead, mood affected memory indirectly through moodrelated self-schemata which subsequently mediated mood-congruity effects. Memory accuracy for events experienced in negative mood states and associated with negative affective reactions was higher for PMS subjects when tested in negative mood states than for controls. No group differences were found on events associated with positive affect or positive daily moods when mood state at the time of testing was also positive. Women with PMS processed information selectively from negative events and events experienced in negative moods compared to controls. Negative events and negative moods appeared to interfere with remembering for control subjects. Women in the control group appeared to be biased towards selectively remembering positive events and events experienced on days when their mood states were relatively positive.     

Does affect induce self-focused attention?

Despite growing evidence that depression is linked with self-focused attention, little is known about how depressed individuals become self-focused or, more generally, about what arouses self-focus in everyday life. Two experiments examined the hypothesis that affect itself induces self-focused attention. In Experiment 1, moods were manipulated with an imagination mood-induction procedure. Sad-induction Ss became higher in self-focus than did neutral-induction Ss. Experiment 2 replicated this effect for sad moods by means of a musical mood-induction procedure and different measures of self-focus. However, Experiment 2 failed to support the hypothesis that happy moods induce self-focus. The results have implications for mood-induction research, self-focused attention, and recent models of depression.     

Positive affect and the experience of meaning in life

Six studies examined the role of positive affect (PA) in the experience of meaning in life (MIL). Study 1 showed strong relations between measures of mood, goal appraisals, and MIL. In multivariate analyses, PA was a stronger predictor of MIL than goal appraisals. In Study 2, the most consistent predictor of the experience of meaning in a day was the PA experienced that day. Later, global MIL was predicted by average daily PA, rather than average daily MIL. Study 3 demonstrated no prospective relations between measures of MIL and PA over 2 years. In Study 4, priming positive mood concepts enhanced MIL. In Study 5, manipulated positive mood enhanced ratings of MIL for those who were not given an attributional cue for their moods. In Study 6, PA was associated with a high level of distinction between meaningful and meaningless activities. Results indicate that positive moods may predispose individuals to feel that life is meaningful. In addition, positive moods may increase sensitivity to the meaning-relevance of a situation.     

Temporal patterns of anxious and depressed mood in generalized anxiety disorder: a daily diary study

Research suggests that anxiety disorders tend to temporally precede depressive disorders, a finding potentially relevant to understanding comorbidity. The current study used diary methods to determine whether daily anxious mood also temporally precedes daily depressed mood. 55 participants with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and history of depressive symptoms completed a 21-day daily diary tracking anxious and depressed mood. Daily anxious and depressed moods were concurrently associated. Daily anxious mood predicted later depressed mood at a variety of time lags, with significance peaking at a two-day lag. Depressed mood generally did not predict later anxious mood. Results suggest that the temporal antecedence of anxiety over depression extends to daily symptoms in GAD. Implications for the refinement of comorbidity models, including causal theories, are discussed.     

The impact of negative moods on self-enhancing cognitions: the role of reflective versus ruminative mood orientations

This research program examined how self-focused attention to feelings affects the relation between mood negativity and self-enhancing thought. The primary hypothesis was that the particular manner in which people focus on their moods (reflective vs. ruminative) determines whether they reveal positive (i.e., mood-incongruent) or negative (i.e., mood-congruent) self-relevant thoughts in response to negative moods. Studies 1-4 revealed that social comparisons, temporal comparisons, and other self-enhancing cognitions (i.e., attributions, disidentification, relationship evaluations) are more likely to be mood incongruent when people adopt a reflective orientation to their negative feelings and more likely to be mood congruent when they adopt a ruminative orientation. Additionally, moods and mood orientations affected self-enhancing thoughts through the mediating influence of mood regulation goals and intentions (Studies 5 and 6).     

Catching moods and hitting runs: mood linkage and subjective performance in professional sport teams

Are the moods and subjective performances of professional sports players associated with the ongoing collective moods of their teammates? Players from 2 professional cricket teams used pocket computers to provide ratings of their moods and performances 3 times a day for 4 days during a competitive match between the teams. Pooled time-series analysis showed significant associations between the average of teammates' happy moods and the players' own moods and subjective performances; the associations were independent of hassles and favorable standing in the match. Mood linkage was greater when players were happier and engaged in collective activity. An intraperson analysis of data from these teams and 2 other teams showed that mood linkage was also greater for players who were older, more committed to the team, and more susceptible to emotional contagion. The results support and extend previous findings concerning mood linkage.     

Moods and Memories: Elation, depression, and the remembering of the events of one's life

Three experiments investigated the influence of current mood states on the remembering of past events of one's own life. In the first and the second experiment, participants were induced to experience either the mood state of elation or the mood state of depression. They then reported events and experiences that had occurred during the previous week. In the first and the second experiments, using converging methods for assessing memory for past events, participants differentially reported past events and experiences whose affective quality was congruent with their current mood states: participants in elated mood states preferentially reported pleasant events and happy experiences, and participants in depressed mood states preferentially reported unpleasant events and unhappy experiences. Additional evidence from the second experiment suggests that the differential remembering of affectively positive or affectively negative events requires that, at the time of the remembering of these events, participants actually experience the mood states of elation or depression and not simply attempt to remember past events that could account for elation or depression. In the third experiment, designed to assess the plausibility of “experimental demand” interpretations of these findings, participants who experienced ostensibly effective mood inductions that were actually ineffective failed to manifest differential remembering of affectively positive and affectively negative events. Implications of this series of experiments for understanding the mechanisms that may link moods and memories, as well as the intrapersonal and the interpersonal consequences of mood states, are discussed.     

Social support, stress, and depressive symptoms among the elderly: test of a process model.

Effects of social support, negative life events, and daily hassles on depressive symptoms were assessed in 301 adults aged 65 or older, in person 3 times at 6-month intervals and by mail questionnaires every month over a 12-month period. Initial social support predicted severity of depressive symptoms 12 months later. Social support and initial levels of depressive symptomatology predicted number of daily hassles but not number of major life events. Effects of social support, depression, and major life events on the incidence of daily hassles remained significant without the inclusion of hassles reflecting depressive symptomatology or problems in relationships or whose content overlapped with major life events. Daily hassles mediated the effects of major life events on subsequent depression. Results did not differ for men and women. Implications for models of the relations among social support, stress, and depression are discussed.     

Responses to Positive Affect in Daily Life: Positive Rumination and Dampening Moderate the Association Between Daily Events and Depressive Symptoms

Depressive rumination has been strongly linked to the development and maintenance of depression; however, less attention has been paid to ruminative processes in response to positive affect, and fewer have examined these processes in daily life. The current study sought to address these gaps by exploring depressive rumination and two forms of responses to positive affect, dampening and positive rumination, under ecologically valid conditions using daily diary methodology. One hundred fifty-seven young adults completed 14-day end-of-day diaries assessing positive affect and depressive symptoms in relation to depressive rumination, responses to positive affect, and daily positive and negative events. Daily depressive rumination predicted stronger associations between negative events and daily depressive symptoms. Higher daily dampening was associated with higher daily depressive symptoms and decreased positive affect and predicted lower associations between daily positive events and improvements in mood (including reduced daily positive affect and increased daily depressive symptoms). Higher daily positive rumination was negatively associated with daily depressive symptoms and interacted with daily positive events such that positive rumination had a greater impact on depressed mood on days when positive experiences were low. Results indicate that both depressive rumination and responses to positive affect play a role in influencing daily mood and depressive symptoms.     

Event content in a daily survey is differentially associated with concurrent mood

Daily life events were grouped according to their life content area and according to the desirability of the event as rated by the subject. Associations among event groupings and concurrently measured daily mood were examined. As in studies of major life events, some event classifications were more strongly associated with mood than were others: Specifically, desirable family-leisure events and undesirable work events were strongly related to mood. The results suggests that particular life areas deserve special attention in understanding environmental stress.     

Are Reports of Life Event Stress among Suicidal Youth Subject to Cognitive Bias?

Severity of depressive symptoms, hopelessness, and suicidal ideation were examined to determine whether they were significantly associated with the accuracy of suicidal adolescents' ratings of stressful life events. The sample included 130 inpatient adolescents who endorsed suicide‐related behaviors. Stress interviews were administered, and the severity of stressful events was rated separately by adolescents and an independent team. A residualized cognitive bias score was created by regressing adolescents' severity ratings to the independent team's severity ratings of the same events. Depressive symptoms, but not hopelessness or suicidal ideation, were significantly associated with cognitive bias scores. A negative cognitive bias in adolescents' reports of life stress may be present at higher levels of depression relative to minimal levels of depression. Further research on the relations between stress and suicide‐related behaviors is encouraged to include independent ratings of stress severity.     

Postpartum maternal mood,feeding practices,and infant temperament in Barbados

Maternal mood, infant feeding practices, and infant temperament, using the Carey-R scales, were assessed in 226 healthy, well-nourished Barbadian mothers and their infants during the first 6 months of life. Maternal moods were assessed by self-report using the Zung depression and anxiety scales and a morale scale. Even after correcting for background variables, maternal depression and anxiety ratings and reports of despair at 6 months postpartum were significantly associated with infant temperament ratings at 6 months, using the original Carey-R scales, with factors derived from principal components analysis of the Carey items, and with summary difficulty scores. Maternal depressive symptoms were associated with decreased infant adaptability, reduced approach, negative mood and an increased sensory threshold. Infants of depressed and anxious mothers were more resistant to change and preferred constancy. These significant relationships were linear across the range of maternal mood scores and were not limited to diagnosed cases of depression or anxiety. In contrast, feeding practices were not significantly correlated with infant temperament, although infant difficulty on the temperament scales was associated with an increase in difficult feeding behaviors and with fathers’ involvement in the feeding of their infants. We conclude that interventions focused on improving maternal mood in the postpartum period are likely to impact positively upon maternal perceptions of their infants, with implications for improving child behavioral development and health in this underserved population.     

Concreteness of thinking and self-focus

The present study used the experience sampling method to detect fluctuations in thinking, such as self-focus or concreteness in daily life, and to examine their relationship with depressive symptoms and concurrent negative affect. Thirty-one undergraduates recorded their negative affect, ruminative self-focus, and concreteness of thinking eight times a day for 1 week. Multilevel modeling showed that individuals with increasing levels of depression showed lower levels of concreteness in their daily thinking. Further analysis revealed a significant positive association between momentary ruminative self-focus and concurrent negative affect only with low concreteness of thinking. These results suggested that individuals with increasing levels of depression chronically process self-related information on an abstract level, which reflects a malfunction of their self-regulatory cycle and might serve to maintain or even exacerbate dysphoric moods.     

Studies of mood and humor appreciation

A total of 189 students in two studies rated jokes on funniness and several other scales after rating their own mood on the Nowlis-Green Mood Adjective Check List. Subjects in Experiment 1 gave a second and third set of mood ratings after their joke-funniness ratings. Three mood factors—surgency, elation, and vigor—reliably predicted joke appreciation in both studies. More tentative evidence linked humor appreciation to concentration, social affection, excitement, freedom, and (lack of) fatigue, but humor appeared independent of aggression, anxiety, tension, and inhibition. Relationships among joke-scale ratings were highly similar for subjects reporting relatively positive moods and those reporting more negative moods. Results were discussed with reference to several humor theories.The authors would like to thank Carol Pierce, Marguerite Ponder, and Ron Fox for their help with this research.     

Sleep quality in healthy and mood-disordered persons predicts daily life emotional reactivity

Disordered sleep has been linked to impaired emotional functioning in healthy and depressed individuals. Little is known, however, about how chronic sleep problems influence emotional reactivity in everyday life. Participants with major or minor unipolar depressive disorder (n?=?60) and healthy controls (n?=?35) reported on sleep and emotional responses to daily life events using a computerised Experience Sampling Method. We examined whether impaired sleep quality influenced emotional reactivity to daily events, and if this relationship was altered by unipolar mood disorders. Among healthy individuals, sleep difficulties were associated with enhanced negative affect (NA) to unpleasant events and a dulled response to neutral events. However, among mood-disordered persons, sleep difficulties were associated with higher NA across all types of everyday life events. Impaired sleep quality differentially affects daily life emotional reactions as a function of depression.     

Mood, source characteristics, and message processing: A mood-congruent expectancies approach

Based on two lines of research, a model is proposed to explain when individuals in a positive mood as well as individuals in a negative mood invest more or less effort in message processing. First, research has shown that moods affect likelihood estimates. That is, positive (negative) mood leads to a mood-congruent increase regarding the occurrence of positively (negatively) valenced events. Second, research has shown that mood-unrelated expectancies affect message processing. Combining both lines of research, I argue that mood-congruent expectancies also affect message scrutiny, that is, more effortful processing given expectancy disconfirmation rather than expectancy confirmation. This prediction was tested in two experiments involving initial information regarding source honesty and likability, respectively. As predicted, individuals in both positive and negative moods evinced more effortful message processing when initial information disconfirmed rather than confirmed expectancies. Thus, these results are consistent with a quite flexible view of individuals in both positive and negative moods regarding the effort invested in information processing.